Consumer advocates worry about the interests of district heating customers. The reason: Price increases from district heating providers are becoming a real problem because of their lack of transparency. Now the Cartel Office and the legislature are to intervene to regulate.
Germany’s consumer advocates warn against “rip-off” from district heating customers and call for stricter regulation of the sector. “Many district heating providers are as opaque as possible when it comes to their prices and price increases,” said Ramona Pop, head of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations vzbv, to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. “The antitrust authorities must definitely take a closer look at this in order to prevent rip-offs.” The legislature is also called upon to “regulate the district heating sector in a much more consumer-friendly manner”.
The vzbv boss complained that there were simply no precise specifications as to which price increases in district heating were permitted and which were not, and how customers had to be informed about them. “It’s a real dark field, and it’s becoming a huge problem, especially in metropolitan areas,” she said.
The consumer advocate also advocated cheaper electricity for heat pumps. “Of course, if heating with gas, oil or pellets is more affordable at the end of the day, the procurement of sensible but expensive heat pumps will be stalled,” she said. “Therefore we are calling for an upper limit for heat flow tariffs.”
The traffic light wants to cap the price for “normal” electricity at 40 cents per kilowatt hour. “For electricity for heating, you need a cap at 30 cents,” Pop demanded. She hopes that Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens and Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP will have “open ears” for this.
